Police are investigating reports of “zombie-like” raccoons in northeast Ohio.

WKBN-TV reports Youngstown police have received more than a dozen calls from scared homeowners in the past three weeks about raccoons acting strangely in the daytime.

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Photographer Robert Coggeshall says he was playing with his dogs outside his home last week when one such raccoon approached them.

“He would stand up on his hind legs, which I’ve never seen a raccoon do before, and he would show his teeth and then he would fall over backward and go into almost a comatose condition,” Coggeshall said.

Coggeshall said he tried to scare the animal off, but it didn't seem afraid.

“He’d come out of it, walk around and then he’d do the same thing again. Get on his hind feet and show his teeth,” Coggeshall said.

The raccoon Coggeshall saw and 14 others police responded to were euthanized.

The Ohio Department of Natural Resources says the animals were likely suffering from distemper, not rabies. The viral disease causes coughing, tremors and seizures and leads raccoons to lose their fear of humans.

Authorities are asking residents to report raccoons behaving unusually to their local police station.